


Give me One Reason

by karrenia_rune



Category: Dragonlance - Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
Genre: Elf/Human Relationship(s), F/M, Inspired by Music, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-15
Updated: 2015-09-15
Packaged: 2018-04-20 22:50:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4805120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karrenia_rune/pseuds/karrenia_rune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A look at the early rather complicated relationship between Tanis and Kitiara.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Give me One Reason

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Merfilly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/gifts).



Disclaimer: Dragonlance and the characters that appear here or are mentioned are the original creations of Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman and TSR and Ballantine Books. They are not mine and are only ‘borrowed’ for the purposes of the story. Note” for Merfilly’s request in the 2015 Fandom Growth Exchange, and is set pre-series. The title was inspired by the Tracy Chapman song.

“Give Me One Reason” by Karrenia

He's not sure how it began and they more or less avoid talking about mainly because he's always had trouble sorting out his emotions and because she's the type of that prefers to look forward than look back. 

For one thing, whenever the subject of the emotional side of their relationship comes up, he becomes a stammering mess and it’s not as if the only aspect of their relationship that matters to him is the physical side. He considers himself to be a man whose character runs much deeper than that. 

It’s just that, if Flint is correct, he’s just someone who has trouble sorting out his emotions when it comes to women, or let’s be honest with ourselves, Tanis Half-Elven, not all women, just one, or maybe two, but he’d prefer not to think of the other woman who at one time had held his heart, too.

Tanis slapped his face with the backs of his hands and cursed himself for thinking that way. That had been a very long time ago, and the past was the past. He should take a cue from Kit and look forward instead of backward. Kit would have laughed to see him wool-gathering like this.

No, not all women, just one, the mercurial, fascinating and beautiful Kitiara. She’s unlike any other woman he’s ever met before. 

Ever since he'd met her she's given off this vibe as if she were a force of nature, a hurricane wind or a firestorm and he's the proverbial moth that keeps flying directly into the flame and never once regretting it.

As far as Tanis is concerned its a flame that could either warm him for the rest of his life or leave him a burned out husk. He kind of savors the former and toys with the latter, but until then he's determined to enjoy the ride.

, Of course, there are her infrequent absences, and he does not begrudge her that, she's a mercenary and a good one, too, to judge by the money that she earns. and the demand, and when she's gone, he tries to keep himself busy, keep mind and body occupied. Solace is a beautiful quiet town, perched as it is within the tree-tops of trees found nowhere else on Krynn. 

Inevitably his thoughts turn back to Kit. Try as he might he can’t stop thinking about her.

The way she walks with an insolent sway, the way the light catches blue-black shades in the curls of her dark hair, and in the planes of her face, He savors the mischievous twinkle in her eye, and the set of her slender but strong shoulders.

At other times he has to wonder if she shares her favors with other men, and if so if where he stands in comparison. It’s difficult not too.

After all, she's human and there's always been a nagging apprehension in the dark corners of his mind that his mixed blood, part human, and part elf might one day become an insurmountable barrier between them. Might Kitiara Uth-Matar prefer the company of her own kind than that of a half-elf?

He expects that she does because it's not like they are exclusive and it's always been a kind of unspoken understanding that they could see other people, but it irks him nonetheless.

***

She comes back, the sweat gave her a glow that Tanis' mind, made her leather jack and tunic cling to her torso like a second skin. Kit brings back presents to her brothers, the brooding and rather aloof and studious young mage, Raistlin and the other twin, the little brother who shows all the signs of making a fine warrior one day, Caramon. 

But later that evening after the welcome home party is over and most everyone else has turned in for the evening, she levers the door to his room open with a booted foot with hands on hips and smiles that crooked smile that he knows so well. "Did you miss me?"

Tanis sits up in his armchair where he's been reading something that he now cannot recall and grins. "As if you have to ask?" Kitiara challenges. 

"You always were a bit obtuse, half-elf," she replies, entering the house with that insolent sway that he remembers so well. "Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with that; as a matter of fact, it's a quality that I've always liked about you. It makes things, challenging."

"Is that so?" he fires back at her.

She sits down on his mahogany desk that had been a name-day present from Flint Fireforge way back when that he cannot now recall and swings one leg up to begin removing her boots, first the left then the right. That task finished she takes off the padded leather vest and tosses them in a heap on the floor.

Tanis watches for the beating of a few heartbeats and then saunters over to begin helping her remove the remainder of her armor. If there's something slightly off by their falling into old habits and familiar rituals; so be it.

“What have you been up to?” he asks.

“Oh, a little of this, a little of that. You, know, the usual.”

“Care to expand?”

“Sure, but it’s rather boring, I’d rather hear about what you’ve been up to.”

“Not too much, I spent the previous fortnight with Caramon and Flint helping Otik put an additional wing on the Inn. It also needed a new roof or at least patching the holes that staved in a few areas what we with the heavy rain and hail we had last fall. Big as a quail’s egg they were.” Tanis said, holding out his hand like a cup in order to demonstrate for her just how big the hail had been.

“How did you get that stubborn old dwarf up on the roof?” Kitiara asks.

 

Tanis offered her a wry grin. “We didn’t. You know, Flint. He’s as brave as a badger backed into a corner, but if I remember rightly, I believe his stated objection was that unless he has both feet firmly planted on the ground he would not go up there.”

Kit smiled, “Good old, Flint. Say, does Otik sill served his famous spiced potatoes?"

“He does. And if you’re hungry, I think the Inn is still open, even though it’s late.”

“No, no,” she replied. “I’m not hungry, I stopped for a little something on the way back, I was just wondering.”

Tanis nodded, “If you want we go over there and get some breakfast before the mad rush begins. Besides we put in a lot of work on that roof and the new addition, I think you should check it out.”

“And I will, tomorrow.”

“How long will you be staying in Solace?” 

“At last another four weeks, there was a political kerfuffle in Haven a short while back but nothing too serious, other than serving as a bodyguard for the various adherents, rather boring actually. No bloodshed, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“Good to hear that. Not that I know much about politics, and I’m guessing that neither d you.”

“Not that I care, as long as they pay well,” Kit replied with a smirk. “But, she added with a long drawn out stretch as she waited for him to take the hint that she wished to change the subject.”

“Oh,” he said and came over to pick her up bodily and carry her over to his bedroom.

 

For her part, Kit, not one to doubt her charms, or her abilities, wonders if she's overdoing it a bit. After all, she’s been gone from Solace longer than usual this time and what right does she have to expect that Tanis will wait for her indefinitely? 

He’s very handsome, yes, undeniably brave; gallant and patient, and no slouch with either sword or longbow. She shakes her head at that last though and also wonders if she’s got her priorities straight when it involves men, especially gorgeous ones like the half-elf. 

No matter, and as the last piece of her leather armor falls to the ground; Tanis picks her up and carries her to his bed and this time it’s her turn to undress him. 

It’s slow going because she does not to rush it. She wonders if it’s because she’s been gone so long, or it’s because of the rhythms of ritual that they’ve fallen into, or because she doesn’t want to come off as being wanton or desperate: Heaven forbid that should ever become the case. She’d rather fall down and impale herself on her own sword if ‘that' should ever happen.

However, this is Tanis, and the reddish-brown hair is scratchy and soft at the same time, and she runs her hands through it, pretending to untangle the snarls. He heaves a contented sigh, and then her hands move to the planes of his face, the skin around the eyes, and mouth, and smothers him with kisses, his mouth, lingering for an achingly tender moments, and then the hollow of his neck. 

From there she goes lower, to the muscled chest which also sports chest hair almost but not quite the same shade of reddish-brown as his hair. She kneads the skin covering the hard muscle beneath and recieves a contented moan from him in response.

Tanis returns the kiss as eagerly as she gives it, his hands coming up to hold her as tenderly as he can. Even as their hands explore familiar territory, but discovering new things along the way. Tanis runs his hands through the mass of her tangled her; inhaling the scent of leather, and sweat and the musky perfume that she favors. He thinks it’s the one he gave her that last night before she left that last time they’d parted. But then again, he might just be waxing nostalgic.

“I’ve missed you, missed this, missed

“I know, I know,” she whispers back to him in a husky tone of voice.

He cups her shoulders and turns her over, “I love you,” he whispers into her ear.

“Don’t” she replies.”

“Just don’t.”

“Don’t what?” Tanis asks rather stiffly, his shoulders hunched forward and his stomach muscles clenching as if anticipation of sucker punch to the gut.

“Don’t say that you love me,” she replies.

“But I do, I really do. I love you. I think I always have and I always will.”

“Tanis, I care for you, I really do, but let’s be honest. Have I ever been the type to talk of love? It’s too emotionally charged, too fraught with misunderstandings and other things. I don’t think I can take it.”

“Why not?” Tanis demands, and it comes out harsher than he intends it to be.

“Because it’s too much. I think I love you, too. Cause you’re the only one who really gets me, the real me.” Kitiara sighed and run her hands through her sweaty, curly black hair.

“Talk to me; help me understand,” Tanis encourage.

“You see the real me.; not the one that I try to put one when I’m out there working as a mercenary. You know there’s that sense that it’s a man’s world and as a woman I’ve got business even thinking I’ve got a chance to be a success at it.”

“I know that it’s important to you and truth to tell, Kit, it’s something I’ve never begrudged about our relationship.”

“I know, I know. I love you, Tanis, but for now, can’t we just leave it at that, It’s been a beautiful ride, and I want to continue on this path and see where it takes us. Can’t that be enough for now? Can’t it?”

 

He feels his heart constrict in his chest and for a few precious seconds he feels as if he cannot breathe; it might be just his imagination, but the sensation is real nonetheless. The blood in his veins pulses in time with his churning emotions, and he has trouble formulating what he wants to say in response to what she has just asked of him.

Finally, Tanis sighs and cupping his hands around her face, kissed her long and tenderly on the lips and they lay locked together like that for a long time. “Yes,” he whispered into her ear, her warm breath on his face. “If that’s what you want, we’ll enjoy the ride as long as it lasts.”


End file.
